


Underneath the leather

by BarPurple



Series: Three Years on AO3 [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Castle, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 08:38:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10081733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: Belle is consumed by a burning curiosity for one particular treasure in the Dark Castle.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Kindleheartzyou prompted : "Belle finds out what is underneath all Rumple's leather."

Curiosity had always been Belle’s driving force. Rumple’s collection of magical treasures provided her with endless items to be curious about, and depending on his mood he could be coaxed into telling her the history behind the item. The collection was so extensive that it would take years to learn about everything, but recently her attention had become focused on one particular curiosity in the Dark Castle; Rumplestiltskin.

The first time she’d found herself staring at the vee of chest his open neck shirt revealed and wondering how far his scaled skin she was shocked at herself. This was simply not the sort of thought a well-born lady entertained. She’d spent a sleepless night rationalizing her stray musing; by the early hours of the morning she’d reached the conclusion that it was simply that, a stray thought and nothing more.

A few days later she resigned herself to the fact that this was not a single stray thought, she’d become obsessed with finding out how far Rumple’s scales went. It wasn’t something she could just ask Rumple over tea; “Would you mind stripping off for me so I can look at your scales?” She wasn’t sure who would be more embarrassed by that question, and the only sure result would be Rumple leaving for days on end to avoid the awkwardness that was bound to ensue. Belle needed a plan, it couldn’t be that hard to get a glimpse of a naked man in his own home, could it?

A week later Belle was frustrated. Perhaps seeing an ordinary man naked was an easy feat, but as he frequently reminded her Rumplestiltskin was not an ordinary man. He didn’t need sleep regularly so sneaking into his room in the middle night had been a non-starter. When he finally did require sleep he tended to flop into one of the chairs in the great hall or library. She’d tried to remove his boots while he slumbered. He’d half woken up and asked her what she thought she was about? He’d nodded at her explanation of trying to make him comfortable and waved his hand to remove the knee high leather with magic. She’d caught sight of his black clawed toes and grey-gold scaled feet before he’d tucked them under a blanket and muttered an order not to wake him until breakfast.

She’d tried spilling tea on him, (after she’d made sure it was only lukewarm so as not to injury him), but that had just resulted in him telling her she was clumsy and threatening to turn her into a toad if she didn’t get the stain out. She doubted that he would transform her, but she was glad he’d been wearing one of his linen shirts rather than a silk. 

Belle had begun giving serious thought to coating his clothing in poison ivy when there was an explosion in his laboratory. Rumple had stumbled down the stairs covered in slime and announced that he was in need of a bath. He headed towards the hot springs at the back of the castle calling over his shoulder for her to bring him some towels and a set of clean clothes. She jumped for joy; this was her chance to finally satisfy her curiosity about his skin. By the time she’d collected the items he’d requested, Rumple had already stripped out of his filthy clothes and was neck deep in the cloudy water of the pool. Belle’s spirits sagged, she’d missed her chance and couldn’t think of a good reason to linger, but the bushes that lined the edge of the pool would give her a place to hide. 

She chewed on her thumbnail as she slowly walked back along the path to the castle, dare she spy on Rumple? Her curiosity was a demanding creature and told her that there would be no better time to see all of his scaled skin. She hitched her skirts around her knees and crept back to the pool. She crouched behind a shrub and peeked at the pool, at first she could not see Rumple, but then he broke the surface of the pool and rose to his feet. Belle gulped at his lean, muscled back. The gold specks within the grey-green shimmered more intently when wet. Droplets of water raced down his spine as he rose further from the water. Her eyes were drawn to his backside, those leather trousers of his really were skin tight. A blush rose to her face as he half turned towards her hiding place, giving her a fleeting glimpse of his taunt stomach before he dipped back under the water and began to rinse the soap from his hair. She had a horrible moment when she was sure he had seen her, and she decided that to remain would be too risky. She took one last lingering look at his gleaming skin and crept carefully back to the castle.

Rumple heard a twig snap and glanced at the shrub his little maid had tried to conceal herself behind. She was gone. He lay back in the warm water and let himself float. Hopefully this would sate her curiosity and he wouldn’t be subjected to anymore spilled tea, or any more drastic measures, (he’d found a botany book open in the library that had worried him). He had no idea why she’d wanted to see him bare, or why he hadn’t really minded. If he’d been braver he would have offered to strip for her, but that would have changed everything between them. As silly and strange as this little pretence was is was the best course of action. They could continue in their tentative friendship without this ever being mentioned.


End file.
